Bound
by ChaosIsBeauty23
Summary: Five years have passed and although the heroes have grown, not much has changed. There is a new Brother Blood on the loose and it is up to Raven and Beast Boy to find out what his endgame is and stop it. What impact will this quest have on the two heroes and those around them? Updated to T, mature content may come later but not for at least 4 more chapters.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first attempt at a fanfiction and is currently being typed on an Android phone. Please, feel free to inform me of any grammatical or spelling errors. constructive criticism is welcome

Disclaimer: DC owns these characters and their world. I am just playing in their sandbox.

'This will be over quickly, he said', thought Rita, trying to break free of the fiery grip that held her. 'Just a garden variety kidnapping. We'll be finished and back home in no time'. She mused, wryly, as she stretched herself thin enough to slip from the grasp of her attacker. Her freedom was short-lived, however, as three more of the ephemeral fire demons piled onto her

How were they to know that following the kidnappers of a teenage girl back to this abandoned, god-forsaken, industrial complex would go so horribly, so supernaturally, wrong? It had started off no different than many routine battles. Get the call, track the bad guys, attack. The Doom Patrol were seasoned fighters who had battle plans for dealing with rogue mercenaries, robot armies and even disembodied brains. A demon horde, however, was not in their S.O.P.

Rita frantically scanned the room for her teammates. They were all otherwise preoccupied like herself. All except one. She searched the room again, struggling to turn her head and was dismayed to see Steve laying unconscious with his helmet feet from his still frame.

Suddenly, a stillness came over the creatures that held her. Their hold remained firm but their eyes looked elsewhere. Rita couldn't help but feel her gaze being drawn in that direction. She turned her head in time to see a hooded figure enter the room and touch her remaining teammates on the head. She watched with concern as each of them fell, muscles slackened, in their attackers arms.

Finally, the robed man turned to her. His piercing eyes put her in mind of the glow of embers, still hot from a fire.

"We have been expecting you Ms. Farr. It is always a pleasure to have someone as distinguished as yourself present for mass." He stated, with false courtesy and a mocking bow.

Rita's brow furrowed in confusion as the man's eyes seemed to lose focus. Then, it happened. The sensation of burning, like a million hot pokers searing every inch of her being. She felt her mind being pulled open and memories, thoughts and knowledge being scanned and disgarded by the man. A whole lifetime of experience being thrown to the floor of her mind, like paper littering the ground of an alleyway.

Rita shrieked and fell to her knees. She screamed until there was no air left and she was left curled on the ground trembling. Then, blessedly, it subsided.

The man regained focus and inclined his head. "Thank you Ms. Farr, you have been most accommodating. I am afraid that you all will be my guests for a time longer. At least until you outlive your usefulness in your present state."

Rita forced her trembling body to look up and meet the face of her tormentor. With the last of her strength and courage, she asked shakily, "And then...?"

The man strode forward until he was face-to-face with her. His hand reached out and Rita involuntarily recoiled. She felt her communicator being plucked from her belt. The man turned it over and inspected it thoughtfully before raising his eyes to her's and responding.

"Why, I am afraid that would ruin the surprise. " He then gestured to the demons that held her to pick her up. "Come, we have a journey ahead with a reunion at the end." He said with a smirking grin.

Again, he reached out his hand. Rita had no strength left to pull back. His hand was hot on her forehead. Before all went black, her final thoughts were for her foster son, now grown and a hero in his own rights. An earnest prayer that he would leave them to suffer, a prayer that he would not be entangled in this and the sinking dread that told her he would.


	2. The More Things Change

Chapter 1: The More Things Change

Disclaimer: DC owns this and hopefully will not sue my broke butt :)

Five years have passed, the Titans have grown. The have faced challenges, faced enemies and faced their own changing reflections in the mirror. Still, despite the years flowing by, much remains the same, maybe too much.  
"For the last time, I have no desire to try your tofu." sighed Raven as she took the toast, slathered in marmalade, into the other room. She left behind the changeling, still trying to offer her a taste of his usual morning cuisine. As Raven sat on the couch, watching the others file in and going through their morning routine, she hid a small smile behind her hood. Minor displays of emotion had grown easier over time. She still struggled with her powers but finally escaping the grasp of puberty had done wonders for the empath's control. Randomly exploding objects were no longer a common feature of life in the tower. She cocked her head to the side, listening to the cacaphony that accompanied the morning routine. These people were her friends, they were her family, they were driving her absolutely insane.  
The sound of the alarm blared through the chaos, breaking into Raven's reverie. She filed into the control room with her teammates. Raven watched as Robin pulled up the map and information with a few expert keystrokes. "Alright team, it's Plasmus giving us a wake-up call. You know what to do." the masked leader stated.  
Raven sighed and mouthed the words as Robin spoke them "Titans, Go!" Just once, she wished for a change of pace, a break in the monotony, something to make all feel new again. Something, anything. Turning away from her thoughts, Raven followed her team into battle. *************

Garfield Logan, now going by the name Changeling, winced internally as he prepared to make contact with the noxious sludge that surrounded Plasmus. He shifted into a rhinoceros to push the villain off balance and distract him long enough for Raven to wrap him in black energy.

He rapidly shifted into a falcon and backwinged away. He wheeled back to where Raven was, moving away to let Starfire begin to fling bolts of green energy at Plasmus and Cyborg let loose with his weaponry.

From Changeling's vantage point above the battle, he watched Robin shake off the goo from his earlier encounter and prepare to throw himself back into the fray. Despite his lack of powers, the Boy Wonder had grown into a formidable man capable of keeping up with his team's various talents.

Plasmus managed to get a small appendage free of the bonds. As it grabbed Raven's ankle, the empath lost focus and the bonds holding the criminally disgusting foe fell away.

As Changeling dove down to break Raven free, he found himself needing to pull back. Their opponent had grabbed a small sedan and was flailing about with it. Garfield watched as Starfire swooped down and broke Robin free of yet another part of Plasmus' form. The green shapeshifter scanned the battlefield and saw Raven distracted by the tentacle pulling her from the air. He groaned as he realized what he would need to do.

"Be ready Rae!", he shouted as he prepared himself to intervene.

Raven nodded and prepared a blast of black energy.

Changeling took a deep breath and closed his eyes. 'It's now or never' , he thought. He then brought his flapping to a stop right over Plasmus. He shifted into a humpbacked whale and dropped directly atop the enemy.

The results were about as spectacular as can be expected when dropping the weight of a whale unto something made of viscous goop. The sludge that encased the man inside of Plasmus was flung in all directions.

The unconscious man lie on the ground, sleeping off the aftereffects of the battle. Changeling, who at the point of impact transformed into an armadillo, uncurled from his place in the puddle of slime and stood up shuddering.

Only to look in the faces of four very angry, very dirty, heroes glaring at him.

"Really, B?", questioned Cyborg, "You didn't see what the outcome of that would be?" As he gestured to buildings and cars covered in smelly, sticky substance.

"No petunias?" asked Raven in her deeply sarcastic tone, as she used her powers to begin cleaning the sludge into the awaiting tanker brought by JCPD.

"I do not understand what you refer to friend-Raven" stated Starfire, looking around for flowers and trying to think of what possible use they would have been in battle. "Sometimes your Earth customs no sense" the redheaded Tameranean stated, shaking her head sadly.

"Let's get this mess cleaned up, make our report, and get some food." Robin declared, barely holding back laughter and trying to keep a stern demeanor. "I think that you should pay for takeout" stated Robin pointing at the chagrined green man.

Garfield sighed and pulled out his communicator and debit card, mumbling less than pleasant things about his leader all the while.

A short time later, back at Titan's Tower, the green shapeshifter emerged from the shower, now free of slime. He walked through the room, which was no longer comparable to a pig sty, and went to the closet to get a new uniform. As he turned, shifting and wiggling to get into the frustrating garment, he noticed a blinking light from atop the desk. His curiousity piqued, he walked over to his old Doom Patrol communicator and looked at the screen. It was flashing with one missed message from Elasta-girl, aka Rita, aka Mom. Wondering why she sent him a secured message, he sat down and began to read.

A/N: Again, this is typed from an Android. Any and all recommended corrections for grammar, spelling, or auto-correct demons are welcome. Thank you again for reading and please review. 


	3. The More They Stay the Same

Chapter 2: ...The More They Stay the Same

Disclaimer: I don't own it, so don't sue me :)

* * *

"So let me get this right, you want a leave of absence to go to Seattle and help the Doom Patrol go after an opponent they have defeated numerous times before?" asked Robin, in an incredulous tone.

"Yes" stated the shapeshifter. Although he was the center of attention in the room, he had eyes only for the small communicator in his hands. "Look Robin, I get it. You're skeptical and all you see is some scrawny green thirteen year old when you look at me but I need you to trust me on this."

"It's not you I distrust. I just can't see any good reason why they would need an extra member for a garden-variety battle with General Immortus." Robin pointed out , exasperated, while running hands through his messy, black hair.

The Titans were arranged on the common room couches to hear Changeling's announcement. While they would all support each other regardless of differing opinions, the Titans had grown accustomed to sharing decisions like this with each other.

Raven's eyes flickered back and forth between the two men. Her empathy was in overdrive from the heavy emotions flowing between them. They created a choking miasma for Raven that was impossible to escape. From her leader, she felt a heavy weight of duty and concern. From Changeling, an immoveable feeling of determination and a escalating sense of annoyance that felt sharp and cutting against her senses. It was not a feeling she was used to reading from him.

She shook her head gently to clear it, then reached out her hand silently to take the communicator. Amethyst eyes met emerald without wavering and the tension in the room dropped several degrees as a green hand reached our to plop the communicator into the outstreached palm. Garfield sighed and shrugged as Raven began to read.

As she sat silently reading the message, she could feel the eyes in the room center on her. Leaving aside the almost routine fighting the two did, they had a great amount of mutual respect and an odd bond. The internal self-combat they both had to deal with coupled with the odd physical appearance that they contended with, had given them common ground to build that bond. Raven's opinion held weight with Changeling and the whole team knew it.

As she finished reading, an odd sense of foreboding came over her. She reflected back on her earlier thoughts and wondered if she would come to regret them. Everything about the message looked genuine but she couldn't shake the feeling he would be walking in to an ambush. Breaking the silence as she passed the communicator back, she questioned, "I know you can handle yourself but something seems odd. Can we have Cyborg trace this?"

The emotions in the room spiked. The shapeshifter leapt up in a flurry of green limbs and casually tossed the communicator at his mechanical friend, growling " Fine! Examine it, trace it, decode it, blow it up for all I care! I'm going anyways." He looked around the room at the startled and confused expressions displayed on his friend's faces. He shook his head and walked out of the room with his head down, muttering.

Despite the fact that their friend had always worn his heart on his sleeve, the group was shocked by his reaction. Robin stood up from his seat to follow Changeling but Starfire stopped him with a gentle hand on the forearm.

"Do you not think it best to give him time to think? If you push him, perhaps he will feel you are forcing him to do the choosing of one family over another." Starfire hinted, perceptively. The alien girl was possibly the best at reading her friends. While her language was garbled, her mind, especially when it came to her friends, was not.

Robin smiled down at the woman with a chagrined look on his face. "You're right, as usual, Star." He sat back down next to her with a frown,"I just don't want another repeat of the Brotherhood of Evil situation."

Cyborg looked Robin and gently scolded, "That was a long time ago. You gotta let that go, man. He's gonna do what he feels is right."

Shaking his head, Cyborg barked a short laugh, "That's how the string bean has always done things, no matter how much hell he catches for it."

He looked pointedly at Raven for a moment before standing up and examining the device he held. "I'll get this analyzed ASAP. Keep him occupied until then" he ordered, heading to his lab with the communicator.

Raven looked at Robin and Starfire for a long moment . She tried to gather the at the tenuous sense of dread she felt to analyze it but failed. She sighed and mumbled, 'I just don't feel good about this."

Robin shrugged his shoulders, "Neither do I, but Star is right. We can't force him to stay. Rita, Steve and the others are his family too."

Starfire looked up, "That is true, but can one of us not go with him instead?"

Raven caught the twinkle in Starfire's eye and thought 'Here it goes. What is she playing at?' She shook her head while giving the alien a bland stare. "That would leave us two Titans down."

Robin looked at Raven and cocked his head to the side, "Please, try to talk to him. Whether you admit it or not, you are the closest to him and he respects your opinion." Robin then smiled mischeviously, dropping the sage leader tone, "Plus, you would worry the whole time if he left."

Raven jumped up and faced away toward the hall, pulling up her hood to hide the spreading flush on her cheeks. "Fine." She stated blandly, recovering her usual monotone as she swept from the room, a soft chuckle from Starfire following the empath down the hall.

A/N: I have the next chapter already written, I just need to type it out. I may have it done tonight, it may take until tomorrow. That's where the good stuff starts to happen. Let me know if you guys would rather have the shorter, more frequent updates or wait for the longer chapter. Thanks again for reading and please leave a review.


	4. Stubborn

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

A/N: Thank you to everyone who is bearing with me and reading this story. Hopefully things should be a little bit faster paced from here forward. Again, forgive the terrible formatting from my phone. Thank you Anna for your reviews :) and thank you everyone for your follows/favorites. I means a ton to me.

Raven stopped at Changeling's door before knocking. While the sorceress had gained control over her powers for the most part, Garfield had a way of bringing out both the best and worst in her. Everything just seemed to go haywire around him. The man appeared to be bound and determined to test her very last nerve, on a daily basis no less. Raven sighed before putting her hand up to knock. The truth was, irritating though he could be, she wouldn't have him any other way. She rapped lightly at the door.

Changeling opened the door and walked away to continue packing. "Yes?" he asked, without looking up from what he was doing.

'You shouldn't do this" Raven stated, watching him with his back to her. He was packing the last of his things into an overnight bag. "Something is off about the whole situation." Raven continued.

Garfield stopped moving and just let out a short, bitter, laugh before turning to face her and walking rapidly over until he was face-to face with her. There was barely a foot left between them. Raven's breath caught in her throat at the sight of anger and hurt flashing in his emerald eyes. "This is what it always comes down to, isn't it?"

Raven squared herself and tilted her head up to look him in the eyes and meet his anger. Raven opened her mouth to speak and perhaps say something comforting, but before she could he began to speak again.

"You don't trust me and you never will." He accused, shaking his head.

Now it was Raven's turn to get angry, she felt a searing heat fill her. 'How dare he…' thought Raven, her eyes glinting with an anger all her own. "This is ridiculous and you have no…" She was cut off by him again.

Changeling leaned in, standing up straight from his normally slouched posture. When he did this, he was at least a head taller than her. He glared down at her. "So tell me Rae," he asked mockingly, "Are you all worried because you think I am incompetent at the job, or do you just assume I'm a total idiot?"

"I-…" This was not going as she planned. She could feel a crescendo of anger and hurt building up in the room.

"You say it enough. Robin double checks me constantly, Cy and Star seem to feel I am still in need of a babysitter. I'm done with this! I'm going to help them! " He shouted in an outburst uncharacteristic of his usual laid-back temperament.

She looked at him quizzically. It seemed that time primal protective instinct had been triggered. She knew some small amount of what had happened to his biological parents and remembered how hard he had worked to protect Steve, Rita and the other Titans when the Brotherhood of Evil battle was going on. It seemed that he was determined not to let anything hurt his family. All logical thought was gone from her friend. She locked eyes with him as he stood, chest heaving, recovering from his outburst.

Changeling broke eye contact first and grabbed his bag. He turned to Raven and said in a dull tone that could have belonged to the empath, "Are you going to move so I can leave?"

She panicked inside at the thought of him leaving with the mental state he was in. It only got worse as he approached with the bag. All of her instincts were telling her not to let the normally happy-go-lucky man leave her sight. Worse than the fact her instincts didn't want it to happen; her emotions seemed to be clamoring to get her to make him stay. She felt almost helpless, a feeling she wasn't overly fond of or familiar with. Raven watched him as he shifted to her left as if to walk around her.

Almost of it's own volition, her hand shot out and grabbed his arm in a firm grip. She blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You're not alone."

He paused, his back straightening, as he turned his head to look at her.

The grey hand on his arm tightened it's grip. "I know that you think you're alone, Garfield, but you're not." She said purposefully, reminding him of his own words to her all those years back. She met his eyes, searching for a sign he was listening.

The heat went out of his eyes, "Rae-", he started

"Look, if you have to go, take me with you. I don't think you should go at all but if you feel you have to, let me watch your back. You don't need to do this alone." She had a pleading tone in her raspy voice that was more than a little unusual coming from the normally cold sorceress. When she saw his shoulders finally relax too, Raven let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

Changeling placed his bag down on the floor. "Why are you so set on this Rae?" he asked with less heat and genuine curiosity. "I can handle myself, you know." Then, with a small hint of mischief in his jade eyes, "I am bigger than you now, if you didn't notice."

"I hadn't noticed…" Raven dead-panned in her usual manner.

"Also, you're still holding my arm…"

She flushed and dropped his arm as if it was on fire. Clearing her throat, she set about answering his original question. "I don't know why. I just feel odd. If I could tell you more, I would." Raven replied with uncertainty in her tone.

"You realize that you are voluntarily agreeing to spending and indefinite amount of time with your favorite green shape-shifter, jokes and pranks included, right?" His face brightening at the prospect of his own thought he responded, "Fine. You can come too. The flight leaves in two hours."

* * *

Changeling watched her leave his room with a confused expression. Raven and he had grown closer over the last few years but he had never seen her or heard her that worried about him. Truth-be-told he valued her opinion more than he should value the opinion of a friend. He hadn't tried to analyze it in the past. Raven was just, well, Raven. Her praise was seldom given, but managed to make him feel like he could do anything when he did get it.

His personality was at a direct contrast to hers, so he wasn't entirely shocked to hear her counsel caution regarding this mission. What still surprised him was her insistence on going with him to Seattle to assist his family. He wasn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth though. He wouldn't mind having her as back-up and neither would Steve and Rita. Plus, this gave him another opportunity to try to get her out of her shell. 'Who knows, maybe with less people around, she might actually relax' he thought.

Over the last 5 years, he had some small successes in pulling her out of the fortress she had built around herself. It had taken, time, patience, and some physical durability to weather the outbursts that came with it. Now, when she sat with them during movie nights, trips to the pizza parlor, or just around the dinner table, he couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride at seeing her laugh or just talk normally with her teammates. The one problem he had was the fact that every time he felt like he got a glimpse of the real Raven, she would close herself off again and disappear for a while.

He knew about her fear of being hurt. He knew she had attempted relationships outside of the team that she thought no one knew about. He knew the first one or two times he had hidden and followed her out, just to make sure the guys were not villains in disguise or that they didn't have the wrong intentions with his friend. He stopped doing this around the time he saw a goth boy get flung into a wall for trying to push her too far. Changeling figured that she had it under control at that point.

Still, he would know whenever one of the relationships failed. He would see her sitting on the roof just staring out at the ocean. Quite a few times he would just go and sit with her. No words were exchanged. He knew this would just drive her to go to her room to be alone. So, he would just sit with her, silent until she would get up. She would then look at him, and say a quiet "Thank you", before going inside. He knew that was as much of an acknowledgement as he would ever get that she needed a friend. He was content with that.

Hearing voices in the common room, Changeling figured that Raven had finished packing and Cyborg had the results of his investigation in. Garfield threw the bag over his shoulder with a casual grace, then, left the room to join his team.

* * *

The Titans once more gathered together to check the information from the message and to see off their friends. Cyborg passed the communicator back to Changeling.

"It all seems legit." Cyborg stated, shaking his head. "I ran just about every test I could think of on it. Even down to checking the grammar and syntax from the Christmas and birthday cards Rita has sent. It's from her. Hell, the message even originated in Seattle judging by the satellite that transmitted it to your communicator."

Changeling nodded his head, he had expected nothing different. While he had his own private questions as to what had led the Doom Patrol to come to Seattle, he knew his foster mother's writing. He looked down at the communicator briefly before pocketing it in the slot he reserved for it in the utility belt.

Robin walked up to Garfield and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you can handle this. If you need anything call for back-up. Cyborg will have the T-plane ready to take off at a moment's notice. Good luck and take care of yourself." He leaned closer. "Take care of Raven too, please. If she lets you" Robin said, in a tone he hoped was quiet enough to escape the emapth's notice. From the glare he received, it wasn't.

"I will", Changeling said as he turned to Cyborg and received a bone-rattling pat on the back from the mechanical man. "You got this" the android said to his best friend before moving aside for Starfire.

"I will miss you both terribly" bemoaned the red-haired alien, before pulling him into a bone-crushing hug and turning to give Raven the same.

"Return home quickly" Starfire said to the empath before letting her breathe.

The two Titans took hold of their bags and emerged onto the rooftop. One bonus to having Raven along was getting to skip the airport traffic. A dainty grey hand reached out and took hold of a larger green one. A black, raven-shaped, wave of darkness overtook them and left the remaining three Titans looking, sadly, at empty space where their friends stood a moment before.


	5. Candle in the Sunlight

**Chapter 4: A Candle in Sunlight**

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Author's notes follow story_.

Raven rubbed her temples in irritation and pulled the cloak tighter as she fought off the mental onslaught of a hundred strangers in close proximity. 'This is why empaths don't use public forms of transportation' she grumbled to herself, settling back into her seat.

The trip through the airport when quicker and easier than she expected. The airline clerks and security officers hadn't given them any trouble despite their odd coloring and dress. The identification Robin had gotten them as a precaution years before had gotten them through without a hitch.

Raven had however gotten annoyed at the glances thrown at her and Changeling from the other travelers occupying the airport. One could tell those native to Jump City from the tourists. Those from the city simply smiled and looked away. The tourists, however, stood there and gawked at the pair. Changeling just barely stopped her from shattering the camera lens of a man who decided he wanted a photo to show his friends. Seeing the serious look on her cheerful friend's face as he shook his head and raised an eyebrow made Raven rein herself in. She settled on a glare that made the offending subject scurry away. Changeling nudged her with his shoulder to disrupt her moody thoughts and get her moving towards the plane.

Now, no amount of shoulder nudging would fix the mood she was in. It felt like her mind was being invaded by the thoughts, hopes and fears of all the other passengers. The plane hit a small patch of turbulence. Raven swallowed hard and closed her eyes, trying to push away the fear being radiated in the cabin. 'If they are so afraid, why can't they just stay on the ground' she thought waspishly.

Garfield looked at the face of the empath seated next to him. Her normally serene features were becoming drawn from the strain. He figured that the other passenger's emotions were beginning to take their toll on her. The shape shifter ran a hand through his verdant hair and thought about the surprise he had waiting for the dark girl next to him. The surprise was planned quickly and had been reasonably expensive, but he could more than afford it. Plus, the woman next to him was being put through her own personal hell at the moment, it was the least he could do. The fact that he had lived simply meant that he had more than enough cash to spare, that when added in to the remains of the inheritance he gained from his parents meant that, in short, he had more than he really needed. The violet-eyed sorceress would be in no state to enjoy his surprise unless he did something about her mood quickly.

Changeling knew proximity played a large role in the impact of her powers. He also knew from experience that he could override what her powers were sensing by forcibly projecting the emotion he wanted her to believe he was feeling. Over the years this had helped him with everything from pulling a prank to having conversations with her that touched a little too close to his emotions. He cared about her but if she felt how much she would have run many times over.

Garfield reached out and pulled her hand free from the armrest it had been gripping. Engulfing her small hand in both of his he began to project reassurance and happiness. He saw her amethyst eyes open and then widen slightly as she realized what he was doing. The surprise in her face was gratifying for him. He noticed first, the tension leaving her face. Then, a few moments later her body began to relax slightly.

"Better?" he asked quietly, still holding her hand lightly between his.

'Yes", she replied. She tilted her head slightly to the side, "Thank you. It was getting overwhelming" The empathy admitted, almost sheepishly.

"And now?" he inquired, continuing to project the emotions he knew she needed.

"It's quieter in my head", she admitted.

In truth, the emotions of the other travelers had faded to almost nothing. The clamoring sensation had slipped into the background. It had been like bringing a candle outside on a sunny day. The candle was no less bright, but the daylight utterly overwhelmed it.

Raven relaxed back into the seat, making no move to retrieve her hand. The pair stayed like this until the plane landed.

* * *

Soon they found themselves boarding a shuttle. The hotel Changeling had chosen thankfully seemed to have it's own transportation that would bring them from the airport to the room he had arranged for. Mercifully, they had travelled with only overnight bags, so Raven got out of standing in the crowds around the baggage carousel. They were able to escape the airport quickly and uneventfully.

Raven was pleased to note that the shuttle was empty of other passengers. She climbed inside and took a seat towards the back next to Changeling and promptly fell asleep before they even hit the interstate.

* * *

Changeling watched the scenery fly by the window beside him. He looked out at the trees that surrounded the interstate and at the daunting but beautiful Cascade Mountains into the distance. The sky was gloomy but showed signs of clearing. It was very late in the afternoon as they made their way to the airport from the city. Changeling looked down to where the empath sat, sleeping. She had slid over and was asleep with her forehead lightly touching his shoulder. He smiled as he saw the contentment on her face. He knew how much the flight had taken out of her and how comfortable she was now with the emotional noise of the airport gone. Everyday things that 'normal' people took for granted were a struggle for the diminutive empathy. Many people took her as being anti-social. Those people had never seen the longing in her violet eyes as she watched people laugh, play and love. Those people had never seen her have to focus with everything she had not to destroy things because something had brought her out of her comfort zone.

Garfield found himself in awe of the deep, personal strength Raven possessed. The same strength that allowed her to fight off her demon lord father, banish a dragon that broke her heart and that allowed her to keep waging an internal battle to trust and let in the team she was a part of.

While they had been waiting for their flight at the airport, Changeling had browsed for hotels on his phone. He had looked through a few results before coming to one he realized would be perfect. It was right inside of the city and a great jumping off place for their investigations, it was also perfectly suited to his friend. As they pulled up to the hotel, he let a smile break out on his face. His instincts had not been wrong. Raven was gonna love this.

"Raven", he said quietly, while shaking her shoulder gently, "We're here."

Raven blinked a few times, stretching as she stood to get out of the vehicle. Her eyes widened as she took in the surroundings. A giant, outdoor fireplace stood before the entrance to the hotel. She looked around her, somewhat astonished and unsure if she was entirely awake.

"Are we on a…." she trailed off weakly.

He grinned, "Yup, the whole hotel is built on a pier", he explained. "Pretty cool, huh, Rae?"

She nodded, slightly dazed as they walked into the quirky hotel. The interior was warm and inviting, not to mention completely at odds with being in the center of a major metropolitan city. The décor was rustic and dark, but comfortable, with large windows that faced out to the bay.

Garfield interrupted her staring and tapped her on the shoulder, holding up a key card he said, "Come on, we're top floor". He reached down and picked up the befuddled empath's bag and walked toward the elevator. Even the elevator was unique mused the sorceress as they travelled upward to the room. She had come along frankly expecting a cheap, but functional hotel. She did not anticipate this.

Grinning ear-to-ear Changeling lead her off the elevator and to their room. "You're gonna love this, Rae.", he exclaimed, sounding like a little kid. "The view is supposed to be pretty awesome." He opened the door while fumbling at the two overnight bags he held. He pushed the door open and gestured for Raven to enter first.

Inside were two plush double beds and deep rich, red furnishings. There was a petite fireplace with armchairs tucked into the corner of the room. What grabbed her attention though was the view directly across the way. She walked slowly across the room and opened the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony. Outside there was a view of the bay and the Cascade Mountains. The fact that the hotel protruded out into the water gave the illusion that it was just them and the water.

Changeling joined her out on the balcony as she shook her head, her amethyst eyes bright with wonder. "How much did this cost you Garfield?" she asked, "It's beautiful but at least let me pay half. I feel…"

"Don't worry about it.", he stated, "It's the least I can do. Thank you again for coming with me and having my back all the time." He said with sincerity in his tone. "I wouldn't admit it to Robin back there", he continued, "but I don't have the greatest feeling about this whole mess either. I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can manage to keep me out of trouble", Changeling said with a small smile.

Raven looked back at him and snorted softly "Not likely". She looked back out at the view of the bay, the breeze blowing her short violet hair back from her face. "Thank you for knowing I would need this after that flight." With one last look out at the water, she turned and walked into the room. She picked up the bags from the ground and placed them on the bed. Opening hers she turned to him, "Contact Rita and Steve. I'll unpack our things while you do."

Garfield nodded and pulled the communicator out, composing a message to his foster family.

* * *

Raven finished unpacking and grabbed a pair of civilian clothing from her drawer. They had both brought some with them in the event they needed to be undercover at some point. The Doom Patrol operated with stealth and espionage when required and Changeling and Raven had thought it best to be prepared if it came to that. They had received a response not long after Garfield sent the message. The orders were simple. Hurry up and wait. They would be contacted once they were needed, probably at some time tomorrow apparently. The two heroes decided that they needed to grab some food after the hectic day. Changeling had grabbed a shower and changed into his specially designed civilian clothes already. It was now Raven's turn to shower while he looked up nearby restaurants.

She headed into the bathroom with her clothes and her toiletry bag. The bag contained the basic shampoo and body wash and her meager collection of cosmetic supplies. In fact, it contained exactly two supplies, lip gloss and mascara. Raven may have matured and become more aware of her appearance thanks to Starfire's continued efforts, however the pale sorceress would never be overly enthusiastic about make-up. Most of the cosmetics and hair care products Starfire brought her were sitting in the back of the closet collecting dust. She did however bring the hair ties and mini hair dryer the alien girl had purchased, thinking those at least she could make use of.

Raven set the supplies out on the counter as she started the shower to get the water warm. She examined the stone-lined walls of the shower stall with a small smile. This whole day had been surprise after surprise, she mused. The hotel was a pleasant surprise; Changeling's actions on the plane were disconcerting.

Although the two had bonded over the years, she had created a careful barrier between them. Ever since the incident when things got too real, too fast, she was very careful to push back when things started getting too cozy. She thought back to that day, almost two years back now. Garfield had been comforting her on the roof after the end of another relationship. This one had been harder on her than he could have known. She had started to let down her barriers with this guy. She had entrusted him with something precious. It had been thrown in her face with yet another betrayal. Although she seemed calm on the exterior, she was a boiling mess of emotions underneath. So she sat, staring at the sky, trying to contain and analyze the inner chaos. Changeling sat next to her, inspecting her face quietly, not speaking. She was thankful for this as she didn't know how she would have reacted if he asked what was wrong. They sat together silently until the sky started to lighten.

It was then he broke the silence. "I don't know what he did, but I'm sorry he hurt you." The tenderness in his tone had been the straw that broke the camel's back. She silently burst into tears. Changeling pulled her into a rough hug, letting her tears run down onto his chest and shoulder. Finally, when the tears tapered off he pulled back and tilted her chin up. The air suddenly grew very heavy as he looked at her. She felt the emotion start to build off of him as he held her cheek in his hand softly. Their eyes were locked and he started to move forward. Raven panicked, she pushed him back and teleported to her room. She stayed in it for two days coming out only in the middle of the night to get tea and toast. Garfield knocked on her door periodically, knowing he would get no response, but trying anyways.

Finally, on the morning of the third day he knocked again and finally got a response. She opened the door, hood up, features serene. "Yes?" she asked.

"Rae, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted that way." he stated running his hand through his hair, "I just wanted to..."

"I don't want to talk about it." She stated coldly before pushing past him down the hall.

This even began a cycle that the pair regularly went through, much to the frustration of their teammates. They were constantly flipping between periods where they spent hours at a time together, to periods where they wouldn't utter a word to each other. The cold periods were always initiated by Raven. His closeness was the catalyst for her plunging them into the ice time and time again.

She always felt guilty for pushing him away and being hurtful to make him stay that way. Raven was surprised at his capacity for forgiveness and determination to still come back every time to prod her into opening up and feeling comfortable around himself and the others. At times it seemed to her that he was determined to single-handedly prevent the future that Starfire had seen when she accidentally time travelled.

Raven would never admit it to the others, but the times where Changeling did get a girlfriend and was preoccupied, she felt hurt. When he wasn't there to force her out of the shell she was crippled with a crushing loneliness and a longing to belong.

She broke free of her memories and climbed into the steaming shower. She let the hot water wash over her and cleanse her of the tension. She also felt herself drifting away from the thoughts of moments before.

After she finally felt clean she hopped out and wrapped her small but curvy frame in a towel and blow dried her hair. She pulled it back into a small ponytail. The front strands escaped like always and framed her face. She got changed into the black tank top and jeans she had brought in, threw on a pair of short black boots and emerged from the bathroom, ready to take on the challenge of dinner with Garfield.

* * *

They walked through the streets of Seattle at dusk. They were headed to a vegan café that Gar had found nearby. Raven had generously agreed to let him pick dinner since she wasn't terribly hungry anyways.

As they slid into opposite sides of the booth at the café, they ordered drinks from the pleasant server. He ordered his standard sugary soft drink, she ordered her usual tea. When the server mentioned they had multiple varieties of tea, Raven's opinion of the place they were eating at skyrocketed. After the orders were placed and the drinks brought, the pair began to discuss strategy.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" Raven inquired, as she sipped at the fragrant tea.

Changeling swallowed a mouthful of his nachos and replied, "Honestly, I'm not sure. Mento likes to run battles his way and his way alone. I figured I would just kinda roll with whatever he had planned." The shape shift shrugged laconically and took another bite.

"I understand leaving the planning to Mento. I was just wondering if they had given any orders for what we are supposed to do while we wait." explained Raven patiently.

"Nope.", a grinning Changeling replied. "We may as well enjoy ourselves a little tomorrow before we get put to work. We can visit the tea shop the server told us about.' he cajoled gently. "Plus, you gotta trust me. Steve will put us to work. He makes Robin look meek when he gets going" Changeling told her with a faint hint of nostalgia.

She felt the emotions radiating off of him and blending together in a heady mix of joy, sadness and worry. "You really love them." Raven stated more to herself than to him.

Changeling was jolted into remembering that the woman in front of him was one of the few who could claim a more screwed up childhood than himself. Sometimes when they would talk he would realize that when she was young, no one really showed love to the daughter of a demon. He decided to respond to her statement. Gently he said, "Yes, they loved me when I had no one left and they had no reason to show kindness to a scrawny green kid that no one wanted." He paused a moment before continuing. "I would do anything for them, just like I would for you. Family is important"

She nodded and let herself absorb the words and emotions from the green shapeshifter. She felt a small amount of grief for the childhood she never had.

Changeling, sensing her sorrow, changed the subject quickly to cheer her up. "C'mon, let's finish up and get back to the hotel. If we get to sleep we can get up early and check out that tea room."

To his relief she nodded and said "I would like that." her voice remained flat but he could see her eyes light up slightly at the prospect. She started eating her salad so they could head back to the room and sleep.

* * *

_ Raven wandered down a corridor with walls made of damp, dark stone. She felt disoriented in the darkness, barely able to see in the oppressive blackness that was only broken by the weak light of intermittent candles in rough steel brackets along the walls. Raven called on her powers and surrounded her hands in black energy as she continued her walk towards a faint glow visible in the distance._

_ She slowed her pace uneasily as she heard a rhythmic chanting coming from the room ahead. She pressed her back against the cold wall as she peeked around the corner to see a room full of hooded figures. They were surrounding an altar where a girl was strapped down. She felt her anger consume her as she watched a man walk to the center, stand above the girl and plunged a blade downward. His stab had coincided with the crescendo of the chanting. As the blood ran down the altar, the woman stopped struggling and Raven brought her powers to bear. Before she could launch a strike the figure disappeared from the altar and reappeared behind her. "You! Why are you here?" he asked angrily._

_ She turned to look at the glowing eyes with trepidation. The man's hand shot out and grabbed her arm. Her whole body filled with pain and the room spun away. In the now empty blackness of her dream she could hear his voice boom out, "Be gone!" The altar suddenly reappeared in the room and instead of the woman who she had seen a few moments ago the figures of all of her friends would appear and disappear. Each of them cried out and pleaded with her. She put her hands to the side of her head to block it out. Raven fell to her knees in anguish at the sight before her and at the fiery pain still flowing through her. A voice rang out again, "Stay out of this daughter of Trigon. Your time will come eventually. Interfere again and this will become your reality." The man threatened. The burning intensified until she could take no more._

* * *

Raven shot up in the bed, panting. She was soaked with sweat and trembling. Raven clutched her knees to her chest and nearly jumped out of her skin as a voice came from the other side of the room.

"What's wrong, Rae?" Changeling asked in a sleepy voice, getting up from his bed. "You screamed in your sleep."

Raven looked at her hands clasped in front of her and took a few deep breaths to try to slow her galloping heart. "It was the Church of Blood. They were sacrificing someone tonight. The man, the new Brother Blood… he found me. He threatened to hurt the Titans if I interfered in what he was doing…" her voice sounded vulnerable as she trailed off.

Changeling wanted to ask more questions but knew it was not the time. He sat down next to Raven on the bed. "Hey, we've beat him before, not to mention you kicking your dad's butt all the way back to hell before. Don't sweat it.", he told her with far more confidence than he actually felt. "Do you think you can sleep?" he asked her.

Raven shuddered and shook her head, not after what she had witnessed.

"Please?" he asked in a syrupy sweet tone, "What if I give you kitty eyes?" he teased, promptly changing into a small green kitten that batted lightly at her hand and mewled.

Raven suppressed a smile at the kitten's antics. Even though she knew it was just her friend in a kitten's body that was rolling around and pouncing at her hand. She caved and started rubbing the kitten behind the ears. She felt the contentment rolling off of the little, fuzzy creature. She sat back with the kitten curled beside her. She quietly stroked the green fur and was surprised by a yawn a few minutes later. She looked down at the softly purring green figure. "You win Gar, Are you happy?" the acerbic tone that she stated it in was ruined by the fact she didn't stop petting the cat. Another yawn followed and sleep came to claim the sorceress.

Garfield waited until Raven's breathing slowed before jumping down from the bed and morphing back into his human form. He smiled and pulled the blankets around the empathy. She was sleeping with a small smile and her hand still lay where he had been curled. "Goodnight, Rae" he said quietly before returning to his own bed to sleep.

**A/N: Wow, this one was a huge chapter. I still had to split it….. Action will be coming up in the next chapter and we will find more about the whereabouts of the Doom Patrol and what Brother Blood is plotting. I have about 15 more handwritten pages waiting to be typed. Your patience is appreciated.**

**Anna: Thanks for your constant support. I appreciate you. Not everyone feels compelled to review a story. I, however, am insanely grateful to you for taking the time.**

**As always, please review. Feedback is appreciated.**


	6. New Blood

Chapter 5:New Blood

Disclaimer: DC owns this. :)

Author's note is down at the bottom...

* * *

As Raven awoke, she cracked one eye open and was shocked at the brightness that engulfed the room. She never slept through sunrise and was used to waking up to the gray pre-dawn light.

Raven looked around the room as she got up and stretched muscles that were stiff from oversleeping. She saw no sign of Changeling. She approached the bathroom cautiously, clothing in hand, it was empty as well. She gave a small shrug and went in to shower and change into her uniform. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck fighting in civilian clothes when the call from the Doom Patrol came in.

She finished getting ready and walked out onto the balcony. She fished her communicator out and decided to place a quick call out to Robin.

"Raven, how are things going?" Robin enquired, with a hint of curiosity in his tone. "I don't hear Changeling, have you killed him already?" he asked, teasingly.

"Everything's fine and no, I haven't killed him… yet." She responded with a smile of her own. "I did have a very off dream last night you should be aware of." The empath stated, keeping her face carefully blank.

Robin's face immediately changed into a serious expression and Raven could practically feel him flip the switch into "leader mode". "What happened? Trigon?"

"No, not exactly at least." she replied ambiguously. Raven steeled herself by taking a deep breath. She launched into a description of the dream before Robin could begin interrogating her. "It was the Church of Blood. Apparently, there is a new leader. In my dream I got drawn into a set of underground tunnels. The tunnels emptied into a chamber where a sacrifice was being performed. Apparently, I was not welcome."

Robin's eyebrows drew together, "Did he say what he wanted from you?"

"No, that's just it. It was the opposite. He wanted nothing from me. In fact, he wanted me to stay away from whatever he was up to."

"If he was close enough that the sacrifice drew you in…" Robin began.

"Yes, I know." Raven interrupted exasperated. "He must be relatively close by. I already thought of that."

"It sounds like everything out there is deeper than we first thought. Do you want us to head up there for backup?" he asked, concerned that his friends were in over their heads.

"No, I think we can handle this. I banished my father back to hell once already. I think I can handle his human minion on Earth." Raven replied, making sure to maintain the emotionless tone. She didn't want interference in dealing with this. Plus, in her mind Changeling's situation took priority.

"Alright." Robin said with a sigh, "Keep us posted though. And Raven, please watch out for him. He's tough but has a bad habit of thinking with his heart."

A ghost of a smile crossed Raven's pale lips, "I know, I'll take care of him." She broke the connection and put the communicator back on her belt.

She was still staring out at the sun on the water when she heard the door to the room open. Changeling walked in juggling two cups and a plastic bag.

"Breakfast for my lady" Changeling stated, in a cheesy tone as he started unloading the contents of the bag onto the table.

"I'm not your lady!" Raven snapped back at him.

"Ouch, grouchy much?" he said calmly, raising a green eyebrow. "There's tea in the cup. I was prepared for your crankiness." He stated with a twinkle of mischief in his green eyes.

Raven gave him her best glare as she walked over to the tea and started to sip it. Unsurprisingly, it was made to her satisfaction. After so many years, he had picked up on how she liked her tea. "Sorry." She stated, with no contrition in her tone. "I'm on edge from last night"

"It's alright. I kinda expected you would feel that way. That's why I went to get breakfast while you were still knocked out." He stated, smugly, as he passed her a marmalade smeared bagel.

It was all she could do to maintain the glare as she bit into the bagel. Changeling grinned as he tucked into his own, knowing that he won the battle in spite of the evil look she was giving him.

He finished chewing the bagel in his mouth and swallowed. He sipped at his own drink, a soy latte, and spoke. "Let's check out that tea shop as soon as we're done. " Raven's look brightened at the prospect.

"I want to make sure you get the chance to see it before all hell breaks loose." Changeling continued.

Raven's face fell slightly and Changeling cursed internally at his poor choice of words. He knew she'd still be stewing about the dream. He saw her white knuckled grip on the coffee cup that belied the completely blank expression on her face. He reached out to touch her arm lightly and gain her attention. He lowered his face to try to meet her downcast gaze. "Hey, whatever happened is not your fault, Rae. It doesn't matter that you are part demon. You. Are. Nothing. Like. Him, okay?" He stated, emphatically.

Her eyes cleared a little. She sighed, "I don't like that this new Brother Blood was powerful enough to hurt me in my own dream. I don't like that he was threatening the Titans and most of all, I HATE that an innocent person was killed last night to appease my father." She looked down at the cup, now clasped between both hands. "Sometimes, I wonder if I will ever escape it. If I will ever stop being afraid of becoming like him." She said, quietly, with a slight catch in her already raspy voice.

"You aren't him and you never will be. You are brave, selfless and caring. He wouldn't know those traits if they bit him." Changeling stated, strongly. "Plus, I have yet to make you do something you didn't want to Rae. You are far too stubborn to let him win." He continued in a teasing tone.

"Thank you." Raven whispered, draining the last of her tea. She looked up at Garfield as he swallowed the last bite of his own bagel. "It seems like I am saying that to you a lot lately."

"It's not a problem." He replied, "Anyways, I like seeing you happy. You deserve to be happy." He said with an odd inflection in his tone that made Raven look up, slightly startled.

There was that heaviness again. Raven felt the mood in the room shift, lightning fast. The air felt thickened to her somehow. She averted her gaze, breaking the moment.

"Well, let's head out" Garfield said, gathering the trash from the table, as if the moment had never occurred. Slightly dazed, Raven followed him wordlessly to the door.

* * *

'I have died and somehow gone to heaven', Raven thought to herself, examining the multitude of teas that were lining the walls of the shop. The air was fragrant from the dried tea leaves and herbs that lined the shelves in jars. She saw Changeling standing off to the side, arms crossed with an eyebrow quirked and an amused expression on his face.

Changeling stood, amused, and watched Raven flit around the room. She would pause at a shelf, read the label, uncork the jar, sniff and then depart for a different area. It was remarkable to see her let go and truly enjoy something. The green shape changer was glad that they had found this place. It was a rarity to see the empath this excited and enthusiastic. He considered, briefly, if he should ask if she wanted a pink cloak but thought better of it. Teasing her right now would make her self-conscious and ruin her good mood. He watched as Raven, of all people, chatted with the clerk about a particular specimen. She inhaled the scent and reluctantly placed the jar back on the shelf after a glance at the tag. She then followed the clerk to another set of shelves on the other side of the shop.

He watched her animatedly discussing the samples that the clerk brought down. She seemed to have forgotten that he was there at the moment. With a grin Changeling peeled himself away from the wall and walked up to the front counter where the store owner was. "My friend was just looking at a tea over there on the wall. I was thinking about getting it for her as a surprise. Thing is, I have no idea what I am doing… help, please" he gushed to the owner with a lopsided grin. The owner laughed softly at his distress and came out from behind the counter to walk him over to the shelf.

The owner passed him the jar; he uncapped it and sniffed lightly. He could understand why Raven had wanted it. The scent was rich and deep with hint of a floral undertone. It was perfect for the dark empath. He looked at the tag and knew it was going to sting a little. Raven was frugal by nature and even though the purchase of the tea wouldn't break the bank for her, Changeling knew she would see it as an unnecessary luxury. He decided to buy it. He returned the shopkeeper's smile and stated. "Let's make this quick, she's still distracted."

* * *

Changeling waited outside, brown paper tote in hand, waiting for Raven to emerge from the shop. He grinned as he saw her come outside with a bag of her own and a smile on her usually blank face. "Have fun?" he asked the empath, rhetorically.

Raven nodded and began to detail her purchases to him. Her voice had no hint of the usual monotone and her eyes had an excited sparkle to them. He attempted to understand and keep up as best he could with her but, frankly, he had no clue what the hell she was talking about. Still, if it made her happy, he would listen and attempt to make the right responses.

Finally, his head spinning with a million facts about tea that he could have lived without knowing, he broke into her monologue. "Raven. Breathe."

The empath looked at him with such a confused expression; he was barely able to contain a laugh. Raven's violet eyes were wide and she looked up at him from under thick lashes. Her jaw still half open from the words she had been saying when he interrupted. He smiled instead of laughing. "I know you're excited, but I'm starving" He gave her a sad expression while rubbing his stomach. "I'm gonna waste away to nothing if I don't eat soon. "

Raven hid her own amusement behind a long-suffering expression "Come on, let's feed you. I'll never hear the end of it otherwise." She gestured for him to lead the way.

As they walked off he noticed the curious gleam in her eyes when she saw the brown bag he was carrying. He grinned and vowed to himself to milk it for all it was worth. "Let's get takeout and head back to the hotel. We'll try to send another message from there. "

The odd pair began the long walk back to the hotel, ignoring the occasional odd glance from a passerby. They were both content with life.

* * *

They arrived back at the hotel with takeout containers, from the local stir fry joint, in hand. As they are the food Garfield noticed Raven's gaze going back to the brown bag that he got from the tea shop. "Nope" he said, responding to her unasked question. "I'm not telling you what's in the bag."

Raven narrowed her purple eyes at him, giving him an intimidating stare that Garfield responded to with a bland expression and a yawn. "I may just lock it in the safe so you can't peek in the bag while I sleep." He provoked.

The empath finished her food and went out to the balcony to sulk while Changeling composed the message to his parents. He flipped on the TV and channel surfed while waiting on a response. A glance outside showed Raven facing the sea, meditating in preparation for tonight's excursion. Changeling decided to prepare in his own way, he curled up on the bed and started to drift off to sleep.

The beeping of his communicator snapped the shapeshifter awake. A glance at the clock on the bedside table showed the time as 5:30pm. He had slept for several hours. The message on the communicator was a simple set of coordinates and a time. Their mission had begun. He hopped out of bed to go to Raven and get prepared.

* * *

'Yeah, this doesn't scream trap', Raven muttered in a raspy whisper.

The Titans had arrived at the coordinates from the message to find themselves square in the middle of a cemetery, at night, during a full moon. They crouched behind a monument inspecting the area.

"Believe me now that the Church of Blood is involved?" Raven continued in a mocking whisper.

"I thought that being annoying was my job." Changeling replied quietly, the pupils of his emerald eyes wide in the darkness. "Well, the ambush is not any less likely with us sitting here. Let's say come out 'Hello'." He stated in a jaunty tone, camouflaging his nerves.

As the shapeshifter stood Raven attempted to grab his arm "Gar, come back here." she hissed.

"Mom! Dad! Where are you?" He called out. His eyes scanned around for motion and he tensed, prepared to shift at the sign of any trouble.

His eyes slid past the monument ahead, a large statue of a weeping angel, as his eyes continued along he caught sight of Rita's figure by a large mausoleum. She was holding a finger to her lips and waving them on with the other hand to come closer. Changeling began walking towards Rita, when he heard Raven drop a very unladylike four letter word and heard her footsteps rushing up to bring her to his side.

He looked at the sorceress, noting the black power surrounding her hands and nodded in approval as they continued on.

Raven leaned towards him and quietly stated "You know this is a trap." It was not a question. He was walking with his shoulders squared for battle. He knew it was a trap but was offering himself to it freely.

Changeling nodded and replied, "Yes, but I know that's my family." His eyes flickered to hers "Ready?"

A nod and an increase in the power surrounding her hands was Raven's reply.

"Let's do this." He walked forward quicker now. The green, pointed ears were flat against the side of his head. His muscles were tensed, almost twitching, like a feline after prey.

They followed the retreating figure of Rita into the mausoleum and into a door that led to a tunnel beneath.

Raven startled as she saw the walls were the same as in her nightmare. The walls were damp and cold. She brushed a hand against the wall and shuddered at the identical texture.

"Garfield, this place was in my nightmare." she informed him in a voice that sounded far calmer than she felt.

He simply nodded and continued inexorably forward down the twisted, underground corridor. She wanted to scream, to grab him with her powers, anything to stop his forward motion. She knew it was useless. He was going anyways, the best she could do was try to protect him from her father's followers that she knew lay in wait.

The figure ahead reached the glowing room from Raven's dream and turned to face them. As they got closer they could see tears falling from frightened eyes and a face with no expression at all. As they had already guessed, Rita was being controlled.

Despite the fact he had expected to find something like this Garfield's heart was breaking to see his foster mom as a prisoner in her own body. Raven winced at the force of the emotion coming from him and felt a strong desire to find whomever was behind this and utterly destroy them; mind, body and soul.

Rita's arms suddenly shot out and wrapped around the pair pulling them into the room. Raven stretched out an arm to try to snag Changeling and teleport away. Her fingers came up short. Raven knew that he would never fight back, not against Elasti-girl.

She teleported herself back to the entrance way and started blasting away with her energy at the figures headed for her friend who struggled weakly against his foster mother's grip.

Raven fought her way forward towards Garfield sending crackling, black energy at the attackers. The force of her rage was flinging them back and bouncing them brutally off the walls of the circular chamber.

Raven was keeping a careful grip on her rage. Using the experience from her time as a Titan to let it fuel her, instead of consume her. Elasti-girl's free arm came flailing in from the side to pull the sorceress in. Raven batted it back with less force than she had been using against the members of the cult. They deserved the pain, Rita didn't.

Raven pushed down another burst of rage at the thought her father's church felt they had the right to use someone this way. Raven was close enough to touch Garfield now and with some small guilt she threw a small blast at Rita to distract her as she grasped Changeling's outstretched hand and teleported both of them to the entrance way.

They stood side-by-side bracing for another attack from Elasti-girl. As they did, a look of terror came over Rita's face and Raven felt a small chill going up her spine.

The robed figure from her dream entered the room and inspected the damage Raven had caused. He clapped slowly "Well done, your father would be so very proud Raven." the man stated, inclining his head with respect at his master's daughter. "I do believe I asked you to stay out of this though. What's done is done though; I will find a use for you in all of this."

The man walked over to Rita and with a gesture of his hand she went to her knees. "You will both soon bow to me as well. The previous bearers of my title were far too soft and uninventive. They didn't know how to use the exquisite powers of Trigon to truly break people. Any fool can kill, that is wasteful. I prefer to make new tools out of those who stand in my way."

Raven watched in horrified dismay as Rita began twisting on the ground, shrieking at the pain being inflicted on her by an invisible source. Raven heard Garfield start growling. It was a dangerous low rumbling that spoke of his control slipping. Raven could see his eyes changing.

"Gar, don't let him do this. Keep control, he is using your anger" Raven touched his arm and felt his muscles loosen a microscopic amount. It was enough. His eyes were his own again.

"Let her go. End this now." Changeling stated with more than a hint of threat in his tone.

Brother Blood looked unimpressed. He had noted what had transpired between the shapeshifter and sorceress. "Interesting...I'll do as you ask." Rita slumped to the ground silent and limp but was still breathing.

"What do you want from me?" Changeling asked.

Brother Blood's glowing eyes seemed to change to a brighter red as he chuckled softly, "I already told you. I mean to break you and then use you"

Garfield opened his mouth to reply when he was interrupted by a gasp from Raven. She held her head between her hands as she staggered against the wall for support. She was clearly struggling against the intrusion from the man who stood watching from the shadow of his hood.

His eyes glowed even brighter as he pushed harder against the empath's mind. He finally broke through and Raven began to scream.

Changeling fought back the instincts boiling up in him. He changed into a lion and charged at Brother Blood with claws extended. He felt a tug and was pulled to the ground. He turned to swipe at the new threat only to see his mother with Steve behind her. From the shadows, the last two members of Doom Patrol, Negative Man and Robotman emerged as well.

Raven broke free of the mental grip that Brother Blood forced on her. As she attempted to charge into the fray and help Changeling, figures made of fire began to emerge from the ground. 'That explains the sacrifice' Raven thought bitterly, knowing the girl in her dreams had died to fuel the fiery creatures she was facing.

She let out a yell and started lashing out at the creatures, determined to break them into the base elements they were made of. She hated them, she used this hate to tear through the horde of elementals. She was righteous fury personified.

As she glanced to her right, she saw Changeling trying to fight off the members of the Doom Patrol. He was failing miserably because he didn't want to hurt them. He was shouting at them, trying to break through the mental hold that Brother Blood had on them. She winced as she saw Robotman pick Changeling up and slam him into the ground. She was relieved to see Garfield struggle to his feet and change form into a sasquatch, he lifted the metallic man and threw him.

A large cabinet thrown telekinetically by Mento, hit the sasquatch in the back, breaking to pieces upon impact with Changeling. His body transformed back into a man with rivulets of blood coming from the gashes and bruising already appearing on the exposed areas of green skin. Garfield shook it off and got up. He hurled a chunk of the cabinet back at his attacker.

The distraction of watching Garfield's battle proved to be costly for Raven. She felt the bruising grip of a molten hand on her arm and shoulder and suddenly she was flying into the shelves behind the altar. She winced as she felt glass from the jars she landed on slicing into her skin. The side of her leotard shredded by the impact with the shelving and jars. She got to her feet holding her side and angrier than ever.

Black lightning crackled through the air and froze the monsters it hit. They turned black as portals opened underneath them and sucked their galvanized forms back to her father's domain. Raven started towards Changeling again, this time it was Negative man who would prove to be her next challenger. She tried to bring up a shield in time but the black astral form of the man touched her before she could. She saw the bright flash as the air whistled past her. She felt intense pain in her ribs and shoulder as she impacted and slid down the wall. Raven pushed herself to her feet with a grunt and this time slid a shield in place before he could cause another explosion. She saw the black form disappear and she scanned the room for him. She felt a hand grasp her arm from behind. Raven had forgotten Negative Man could phase like her.

She was thrown again and rolled to a stop on the hard stone floor. She wiped blood from her lip and realized she couldn't fight him this way. She caught sight of a bandaged hand on the ground behind the altar and grinned wickedly. The black form accelerated across the room to the empath who was struggling to regain her feet. Suddenly, Raven turned to face the black form with a smile. A thunk was heard from behind the altar and the black form dissipated. A plank from the shelving that Raven had crashed into was a perfect weapon to render Negative Man unconscious.

She turned back to Garfield's own battle. He was injured but holding his own against his foster parents. She was about to encase Rita in a globe of black energy when she heard Changeling let out a howl.

The green shapeshifter dropped to his knees and grabbed at his head. "No, please no." he said through gritted teeth. His eyes met Raven's with a desperate fear in them. "Rae, run." His form started to change into one that Raven had only seen a few times. She recognized it instantly though. He was being changed into the Beast.

She searched the room for Brother Blood. She saw him, standing at the entrance to a corridor, eyes aglow. She was forcing Gar to fight his family in an uncontrollable form. Raven levitated up and prepared to attack. The robed figure shook his head and grinned. More portals with the fire creatures were opening around the room. There was no way for her to defend herself and try to stop Changeling.

She heard a roar and saw the Beast charge towards Rita and Steve. Raven panicked and did the only thing she could think of. She sent her soul self into the Beast to try to stop him. She felt the boiling chaos and rage that Brother Blood had triggered blocking her. Time slowed for her as she pushed against the wall, trying frantically to reach Garfield's consciousness. The Beast slowed, confused for a moment, that was all Raven needed. With a shout she pushed through the rage and grasped control of the Beast. She felt her power draining at an alarming rate as she fought to subdue his consciousness. Splitting off a piece of her soul self she grasped a piece of rubble and slammed it into the back of her friend's head. Raven felt him lose consciousness and saw him drop back to the ground. She came back into her body and ran towards him with the last of her energy. She had barely any power left after her struggle with the Beast. As her hand made contact with Changeling's form she used the last of what power was left to encase them in black and teleport.

* * *

Raven's head swirled. Pulling herself up from the stupor she was left in after teleporting them away from battle her eyelids shot open. She leaned upright into a sitting position as her last memories from the battle came back to her. 'Garfield!' His name ran through her mind as she looked and listened for signs of him. 'Please, please don't let him have reverted back to the Beast.' she set out a mental prayer to whomever would answer the daughter of a demon.

Then, a soft sound came into focus. Water running. 'The bathroom!' she thought. The violet-haired sorceress jumped up and held her breath as she tiptoed up to the cracked door. She timidly peeked around the corner. Small splatters of blood and a shredded uniform decorated the floor, but the shadow cast on the floor was, blessedly, human-sized.

She saw the shadow of an arm reach towards the door of the stall. Raven rushed back to the room with a flush spreading across her cheeks at what she had nearly seen. More and more often since this trip started she found herself needing to squash down thoughts of the green shape changer. She walked up to the wall mirror to examine her eyes for any trace of red, she was concerned especially after the battle that her demon side would try to break through. Her eyes were their normal color and there were only two. She breathed a sigh of relief that was short lived as she noticed her leotard was badly damaged. A sleeve, most of the area by her ribs and the back of the leotard were either torn or shredded to almost mesh. The impact with the shelves, the walls and the explosion from Negative Man had taken their toll. The skin beneath the leotard was still bruised and in some cases barely clotted. 'Good, I wasn't out for long or these would be gone.' she thought to herself.

She shook off those thoughts as she heard the water cut off. Raven grabbed the cloak that had been covering her off of the bed and hastily wrapped herself in it to hide the damaged leotard.

Changeling emerged from the bathroom in his training sweats still drying his hair. Changeling dropped the towel down onto his bed and a small smile came across his drawn features. At least there was some good news in this whole mess. "Good, you're up. I was worried about you for a bit there." he said in a quiet tone. "Some of those injuries looked pretty gnarly and I think you might have a few broken ribs from the bruising." he advised Raven.

Raven found her face heating in both anger and embarrassment at the thought he had examined her when she was in that vulnerable state and thought she needed his help. She didn't want his help. She wasn't fragile. She raised the hood of her cloak. "Thanks for your diagnosis, Doctor Doolittle" she stated bitingly.

"You know what Raven, sorry for caring." He replied exasperated at her sarcasm. He watched as she stormed off into the bathroom. He knew she was scared of what had transpired and was lashing out but tonight he wasn't in the mood to cater to Raven's dysfunction.

He gave up and went to lie down. Worried about his family, worried about the Beast, and now, also, worried he had seriously damaged his relationship with one of the most important people in his life. He struggled, trying to find a position that wouldn't exacerbate the injuries. He wasn't even sure Raven would want to keep being around him after his loss of control. Yes, she had said the Beast was a part of him and knowing when to use it made him a man. Changeling had a feeling that she knew that tonight had been an utter loss of self-control and Raven was all about self-control. He let out a soft whimper as he moved the wrong way and reopened a scratch on his side. His thoughts still on his loss of control he buried his face into the pillow. It was going to be a long night.

Raven emerged from the shower after standing under the scalding water so long that her skin was red and the room was filled with an almost tropical heat. She couldn't wash away the hurt that filled her. He knew Changeling was just trying to help her. She knew that she had been out of line for snapping at him but she couldn't help it. She couldn't seem to break that cycle and just let him in. Some twisted part of her kept attacking him and pushing him away simply because he made her feel too deeply. She preferred to keep the illusion that she didn't need anyone or anything. She would rather not think of how afraid she had been for him when he had lost control. She knew that killing his family would have destroyed him.

She sighed and sat down on top of the closed toilet seat and began the process of healing the worst of her injuries. She couldn't get rid of them all the way without draining herself completely. Plus, sleep would take care of the rest. She was almost relieved to know it would be a dreamless night as her body was almost certain to go into a trance to finish healing itself. That meant not reliving the battle, not reliving the sight of the Doom Patrol forced to attack them, the sight of the blood on the altar. Raven stopped her thought process as she felt the control of her power slipping. She focused again on healing herself moving from the cracked ribs that were now just sprained and moving on to a large gash that ran from her collarbone diagonally to her bicep. It was tender and had only just stopped bleeding. She felt the pain ease as it was replaced by the almost itchy sensation of her tissue knitting itself together. She attended to a few other cuts before getting dressed and leaving the bathroom in slightly less pain from the injuries.

She noticed that Garfield was laid out on top of the covers. His tank top lay on the bed beneath him. He was rolled most of the way on his stomach exposing the wounds on his back and left side. He was bruised everywhere and bore several gashes and marks. He shifted in his sleep whimpering slightly at the pain of the movement.

Raven approached the bed silently and looked down at him concerned. Slowly and carefully, as not to wake him, she reached out a hand to his back and began to heal him as best she could. She definitely wasn't at full strength but she could make him comfortable and assuage some of the guilt she felt at her treatment of him. As the blue light glowed softly from her fingertips and she moved from wound to wound she let a soft expression emerge on her face. She cared deeply about the man she was healing. She was terrified to ever let the affection she felt progress to anything else but she would do anything to be able to linger at the edges of his warmth for as long as he let her.

His breathing settled into a deeper, more comfortable rhythm as she used the last of her power to close the large cut that ran across his ribcage. Raven let her fingers linger on the soft green skin of his back for a few moments as she watched him sleep peacefully. She lightly stroked his skin before pulling her hand away and turning to go to her own bed. She lay down and pulled the covers over her before turning out the light beside the bed. As she closed her eyes she heard him sigh softly. He sleepily shifted and quietly said "Thank you, Rae." into the darkness. Raven wanted to reply but all that came out was a yawn as profound fatigue pulled her into the dark of sleep.

**A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews and patience as this came into being. Action is difficult for me, hopefully I pulled it off to your satisfaction **

**Cailius: The action finally kicks in here. Took me longer than I liked to build to it but the story had a mind of it's own.**

**Anna: Glad you are enjoying this :) I am trying to age them but not so much they are OOC. I am glad that what I'm doing is working for you**

**EJammer: Glad I've got you hooked. I won't be slowing down too much. I intend on posting about once a week. Monday is a safe bet.**

**As always, read and review. Feedback is welcome. **


	7. Bereft

**Chapter 6: Bereft**

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Raven awoke to the sound of rustling in the room. She saw changeling disappear into the bathroom, uniform in hand. The empath sat up cautiously, testing the muscles for soreness from the fight. Pleased to note that there was none she got up and looked around the room. On the other bed was the small laptop that Gar had brought with him for research. On the nightstand stood two empty coffee cups. It seemed he had already been busy despite the fact that it was 7am and not long after sunrise.

Raven walked over to the electric kettle and proceeded to turn it on to make some tea. While she waited for it to heat she walked to the laptop and peered at the screen trying to see what Changeling had been researching. Search results relating to the Church of Blood were displayed on the screen. Raven rubbed her forehead. She knew this was going to be an unpleasant morning. Garfield could be so damn stubborn when he wanted to be. With his family involved, he would definitely want to be. Now, Raven knew, it would be her job to keep him from running off half-cocked and straight into the hands of Brother Blood.

Raven knew what Brother Blood was trying to do. Her task at this point was to convince her green friend of it. She was frightened of what it all meant and what it might take to stop it, but Raven was never one to back down from a challenge on the basis of difficulty. She walked over to the kettle that had just finished boiling. As she poured the steaming water over the leaves, she listened to hear if the shower was off yet. She heard the sound of water running. With a sigh, she took her teacup to the armchair and sat down to wait.

* * *

Changeling emerged from the shower and began to towel himself off. He knew that the research and planning he had done this morning was the easy part. The difficult part was going to be getting Raven to listen to him and leave. Enough of his family had been hurt already, if she hadn't hit him with that wood last night… Gar interrupted his own chain of thought as he began to work his way into a new uniform. He took a deep breath and looked at himself in the fogged mirror. As he stared into his own reflection's eyes, he wondered if he looked hard enough could he see the darkness inside of him. The darkness the Church of Blood hoped to use, the darkness that was a perfect killer.

Up until last night Changeling had been able to rationalize with himself that the only time he had used the darkness inside had been to protect. He could no longer live under the illusion of control. Brother Blood had stolen that from him along with his parents. He thought of the way it had felt, watching helplessly inside of his mind as the change overtook him. Knowing that Raven and his family would die at his hands, knowing that the animal inside would relish the kills and revel in the blood that he spilled.

He finished zipping up the suit and braced himself internally for what he was about to face when he left the bathroom. An angry Raven was a bad thing, and angry, stubborn Raven was a walking nightmare. A nightmare that Changeling was about to poke.

* * *

Changeling emerged from the bathroom to find Raven sitting in the chair, staring at him calmly with amethyst eyes. Changeling winced internally; the woman really did have the best poker-face he had ever seen. As he opened his mouth to speak, she beat him to the punch.

"I'm not going anywhere." She stated with a knowing look in her eyes.

As he opened his mouth once more, she cut him off again.

"And you aren't going anywhere without me either. You need help with this, whether you admit it or not" she continued.

He waited to see if she would say more. When the silence hung for a few seconds, he spoke "Raven, you could have been killed last night. Not by the villain, but by me. I know you want to help but I don't want you hurt, much less to be the one who hurts you." Changeling sat wearily on the bed.

Raven set down the teacup and walked to where he was sitting. "I came with you so that if something like this occurred you would have backup. Now you just expect me to abandon you and the Doom Patrol to a cult that murders and destroys in the name of my father. Do I have that right?"

Garfield sighed and ran hands through his deep green hair and held his head in his hands. "I know it's selfish but I want to do this on my own. I want to make sure no one else gets hurt by me. Raven, I—I want to kill him and I don't know if that's me or the Beast talking but I know that I have an irrational rage and I want his blood."

Raven laid a hand on his shoulder "Because I have no idea what irrational rage and blood-lust feel like, right? Let me help you. We can stop him together."

Changeling then took Raven by surprise as he grasped her waist from his sitting position and buried his head in her stomach and started sobbing. Raven's eyes widened but she didn't move to push him away. His sanity and control were on a knife's edge and he needed comfort. Although it felt slightly awkward she placed a hand on the back of his head and started running her fingers through his hair to calm him. He was sobbing in a way that put her in mind of a small child, completely bereft at the loss of all he held dear. She could feel the power of the emotions overtaking him and was concerned.

Raven gently sent a small tendril of power and touched his temple with it. She lightly pressed forward opening a small conduit between her soul-self and his mind. She pushed back against the deep sorrow and depression she found within him and pushed reassurance, compassion and even a little affection through the conduit to him. She felt the danger ease as he regained control. When the sobbing started tapering off she withdrew the link and waited for him to catch his breath enough to speak. When he finally recovered he spoke.

"I lost my parents when I was a child, I lost Rita and Steve now, and I can't lose you as well." He mumbled head resting on her still as he spoke.

Raven tilted his head up to force him to look at her "You haven't lost Rita and Steve yet. You won't lose me, I'm too stubborn, remember?"

He pulled Raven down to sit next to him on the bed. He held her hand in his and asked "Why are you so determined to be a part of this? Why does it matter to you?"

She looked down at her skin, pale against his brightness. "They are your family, they are suffering for my father, and I'm not sure how to say this Garfield but this whole situation is my fault"

Garfield sighed, exasperated, "Raven, how many times do I have to tell you? You are not responsible for the things your father does."

She turned her head away from him "While I appreciate the sentiment, I am not referring to anything your father did. I am referring to Brother Blood. I know who he is and I think I may know what he wants."

"How do you know who he is?" Changeling asked confused.

"Remember Daniel, the man I dated a few years back? I am pretty sure the whole thing was to get information on the Titans because either he is Brother Blood or Trigon has gotten into the cloning business. The problem is…" Raven paused wincing internally.

"Raven, whatever it is, you can tell me." Changeling responded squeezing her hand.

She took a deep breath, "I talked about you a lot with Daniel. I told him about the Beast. I talked to him about the other Titans. I told him that Rita and Steve adopted you." Raven kept her head turned away, her purple eyes squeezed tightly shut. "I will understand if you hate me but, please, let me make it right."

Garfield took a moment to digest everything and to take in the defensive posture of the girl next to him. Raven was tensed and slightly curled in on herself. He was upset that she had shared something that he would have preferred stay amongst the Titans but he was far from hating her. He didn't think he was capable of hating Raven. Changeling pulled her into him in a sideways hug. "I'll take your help but I don't hate you. How are we going to prevent him from taking control again though? If he does it again I will end up hurting you or someone else."

Raven relaxed slightly but wasn't sure that Garfield would like the answer she was going to give. Hell, Raven didn't know that she liked it either. She shifted away from Changeling and turned sideways to face him. "You're not going to like the solution but I think it's the only way. I need to create a link to you."

Garfield sighed in relief, "Raven, that's not terrible, you have a link with Robin already and it seems to be fine."

Raven hesitated a moment before continuing. "Gar, the link I made with Robin wasn't meant for the same type of thing. The link I would create is stronger, it will have to be. It can't prevent him from taking control either. It would have a different purpose and that's what I think you may not like."

Garfield tilted his head, utterly lost by the empath's rambling. "Okay, Rae, so why are we doing it then?"

Raven rubbed her temples and looked down before she started to speak again. "I am a half demon by nature, my powers originate from energy intended for a dark purpose. Sometimes I get to use those dark energies for good. Instead of binding a victim for torture, I bind a criminal for justice. That doesn't change the nature of the power though. Do you follow so far?"

The Changeling watched her intently and said "I do…"

Raven appeared to be fighting herself to continue. "Well, the ability to use my soul-self to link has a very specific purpose that is part of my heritage. It is not meant to monitor or to protect. I can help you Garfield but in order for this to be strong enough to be useful it would need to be used for its original purpose. I would need to control and possess you with my soul-self."

Raven turned away from the pair of shocked emerald eyes and left the room.

A/N: Sorry for a short chapter guys but I was swamped with work this week(60 hours and acting operation manager duties, crap I am tired) . I also had a wedding for a friend this weekend that stole some of my writing time away. I will be trying to post another short chapter like this one later in the week to make up for it though. This was a chapter that is mainly filler and exposition to prepare for the final push. There are not many chapters left at this point in the game. The one-shot I posted earlier this week contained a hint as to who Brother Blood was and a closer read and some tinkering with Google may give you a few minor spoilers ;)

Thank you to all who reviewed, followed or favorited this story. It's been a heck of a trip so far. Ready to get on the home stretch?


	8. The Beginning

Chapter 7: The Beginning

A/N: Sorry about the extra week between chapters. Work was crazy, life was crazy and I am ridiculously obessessed with making these next few chapters perfect. They are the heart of this story. Without them, the point is lost. Thank you all for your patience. I will probably be moving this to the M section shortly, just a heads up. With that said, join me on the home stretch?

Changeling sat on the bed, his head reeling and thoughts a mess. On one hand, it was Raven, his best friend that was proposing this. On the other hand, the thoughts of his life stealing for others, being collared and treated like a pet before Rita and Steve got him raced through his mind. He looked out to the balcony where Raven went out and saw her sitting on the ground. Her knees were drawn against her chest, head tilted against the railing. She was staring out at the water. He knew she was also giving him space to think.

Changeling knew there was merit to the idea. Without being at full strength and control, she had managed to break the hold Slade had gained in Robin's mind. On the other hand, Garfield had a lot of darkness in his past that he kept carefully hidden. Not to mention feelings about a certain empath. Once they did this there would be no more manipulating the emotions he had, no more showing her the happy-go-lucky mask he wore to hide the darkness, and no more pretending his mind wasn't just as shattered as hers by the presence of the primal entity that was the Beast.

Changeling looked down at his green skin and the slight claws that his fingers ended in. He has known for some time that the reason Raven and he were drawn to each other was a mutual darkness that could consume them. They both had an internal battle with an entity that was both part of them and separate at the same time.

Once, when they had first met, before he realized that her lashing out was a sign of trust, he would have laughed himself sick at the idea of wanting to be with her. Much less the idea that he, the consummate primal male, would let himself be bound to her. The animalistic side, the side that saw him through the dark years shuddered at the thought of an invisible leash. The human side, the part that had become so close to Raven and sought to be closer still revelled in the idea of the attachment.

Garfield's logic won the day and sided with the human part of him. He had to get Rita and Steve back. He couldn't do that while being the Beast. He couldn't get revenge on Brother Blood without accepting Raven's help. Changeling went to collect the empath from the balcony.

Raven sat out on the balcony giving Garfield time to come to terms with the information she gave him. She had told him that she inadvertently caused the enemy to focus on him and his family. Then, in the next breath asked him to trust her with the utter control of him. Mind and soul. It was no wonder that she could feel waves of conflicting emotions washing over her from inside the room.

Raven was fighting her own battles though. It wasn't until she was touched in the battle that she started to suspect that Daniel had been Brother Blood. In hindsight, she should have seen it when she was with him. He had seen to it that she wouldn't. With magic and power like his, she was not surprised. Even his name, Daniel Armaros, had been a give away. He had hidden it all in plain sight but made her blind to it. Blind to him and his nature.

It wasn't until they returned to the room and she woke up that it all started to link in her mind. The fog was finally cleared when she actually thought of the man they fought. The mental battle she won against Daniel, coupled with her temporary possession of the Beast finally broke whatever hold the spell had. When the dust cleared in the morning and she looked at the laptop, it all made sense.

Most of the myths and legends of Earth had a deep-rooted foundation in the events dealing with other-worldly or pan-dimensional beings like her father. There were religions here that she had found in her studies that tied to dimensions that she had visited and alien cultures that the likes of the Green Lantern Corp dealt with regularly. One of these legends dealt with her father's demon kin. The denizens of Earth had a legend of the Watchers. Higher beings that came to a primitive culture and gave it tools, weapons, magic and enlightenment. These creatures then fell into corruption and sin. They had hybrid children with the women. Children like her. Superpowered abominations that killed and revelled in debauchery. It was said in the Biblical legend that the Archangels locked the now fallen Watchers away. Raven thought that the legend had all of the hallmarks of the Green Lantern's and maybe even Kryptonians preventing interference from her father's kind on a developing race.

According to the remnants of the story that were left; Armaros had a particular specialty, sorcery. He was said to have taught this to humans and used this to build his power. Like all Watchers, he took a great pleasure in breeding with human women. That explained the circumstances that ended their relationship quite neatly.

Raven had suggested the bond not only to prevent Garfield from being forced into being the Beast but in an effort to stop Armaros from being able to further enchant her. She knew it was a necessity but the idea of creating this bond terrified her. She wouldn't be able to hide her emotions or dissemble and pretend she had no feelings. The memories, dreams and nightmares of her demon heritage would be there for him to see in all their stomach-churning glory.

She felt Garfield's emotions begin to taper off and come into alignment. He would be out here soon, Raven braced herself internally for the answer. The violet haired empath stood and turned to face the music.

Changeling opened the sliding door with Raven facing him. She quietly walked past him into the room and sat in one of the armchairs. Her expression was blank but he could see the concern hiding in her amethyst eyes.

Garfield sat in the chair across from her. They faced each other with a few feet of space. Changeling pondered the fact that this may be the last time either of them had personal space from the other.

"I'll do it. " he stated, answering the unasked question that floated in the air between them. "But first, tell me why I need to."

Raven nodded her head, expecting the question. "That's fair. What I explained earlier, about possession being a skill of my kind, relates to the reason this is a necessity. "

She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts before letting out a sigh, "This incarnation of Brother Blood is slightly different than the ones before. In the past, we have faced humans that are simply enhanced by a bond with my father. The person who took your family is not a human or even of our dimension. He has powers that are all his own" Raven explained.

"That doesn't sound good." Changeling replied, concerned.

"It gets worse, I'm afraid. The man I knew as Daniel knows about you and your family. He is also the same interdimensional being who gave magic to humans back in your race's infancy. Other beings gave different gifts but his was specifically magic. My fear is that he will use you as a weapon against those who could stop him from allowing my father and others of his kind from claiming dominion of the Earth." Raven paused as she took in the look on Changeling's face, confusion and a fleeting glint of fear passed over his features.

"Why me Rae? I am far from the strongest Titan. Hell, even the villians think I'm a joke half of the time." He queried in a quiet tone with a hint of bitterness.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "You really don't see it, do you? The powers you have are among the most deadly on the team, if not the world, Gar. It couldn't be more perfect for what he wants."

"Rae, even if he takes control of the Beast its far from unstoppable, especially if the Justice League gets involved. I'm not saying it couldn't cause damage but I'm pretty sure Superman could beat my ass all the way from here to the Watchtower, if it was needed." Changeling responded shaking his head sadly.

Raven looked at Chngeling and without warning grabbed his hand. She flipped it over and traced the veins running up his hand with one finger. There was a smile on Raven's lips that was small and malicious. It made him uncomfortable deep inside and he knew she was letting the demon in her come forward for this. Her eyes met his, no red was present but there was a darkness behind them that raised his hackles and made him want to run.

"You are the weapon, not the Beast. You are so innocent you have not imagined or seen the ways you could be used. You mentioned Superman... he could beat you in a fair fight." Raven squeezed his wrist harder watching the veins on his hand bulge. "Demons don't fight fair. We plot and kill and rejoice when our opponents plead for mercy as we grind their souls to dust. Yes, he could win a fair fight, what about a bacteria he breathes in that can continually mutate until even his immune system breaks? Or an amoeba that suddenly grows to either cut off blood or explodes to the size of, say, a rhino? There are viruses that would allow you to control him from within. How do you fight your own blood Gar? How do you defeat what you can't see when it can change forms in a second?"

Raven released his wrist and took a shaky breath as she pushed the darkness aside to face Changeling as herself. "I won't let him do that to you. You deserve freedom but all I can offer to prevent him using you is a friendlier set of chains. I'm sorry, Garfield" she stood to leave the room and give him some time to catch his thoughts. Changeling rose to his feet in a fluid motion and captured her wrist. In one of his lightning quick mood changes she felt the fear and sadness disappear and be replaced by an overwhelming wave of affection as he pulled Raven into a crushing hug. Raven was rigid for a second before she began to hug back.

"You are much more than a friendly set of chains, no matter what the circumstances. If you haven't figured that out by now you need to go back to empath school" he whispered against her hair, the mischievousness that defined him back in his voice.

Even as Raven allowed Changeling to anchor and ground her as she rested her head against him, she couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Empath school, really? You're ruining the moment again, Gar."

"It's what I do." Changeling released the petite empathy from his grasp.

Raven walked toward the bed and perched cross-legged at the foot of the bed and waved a hand towards the empty space for Changeling to have a seat. Another mischievous grin crossed his face, green eyes twinkled. "Rae, if all it took to get you to invite me to bed was a leash, you should have said so sooner."

"Gar..." the empath said his name with dark warning in her tone but there was a fondness in her eyes that made the threat empty.

"It's what I do." He repeated, grinning boyishly as he took a seat on the bed facing her. "What now?"

"Take my hands and close your eyes." She instructed. She watched as the green shapeshifter closed his eyes and held his hands out trustingly. It broke her heart to do this. "I'm sorry." Raven said quietly.

Garfield cracked one eye open to look at her. "I'm not. I can't think of a better person to be stuck with" he replied sincerely.

Before her emotions became uncontrollable, Raven gave his hands a squeeze in response and sent her powers into both of them. She felt herself fade away from this plane.

When Garfield opened his eyes, he was standing across from Raven in a grassy meadow that was empty except for doors behind each of them. Changeling glanced around, taking in the bright blue of the sky and the trees that dotted the meadow. He looked at Raven and asked, "Is this your mind or mine?"

"Does it look like mine?", Raven replied sardonically.

"I don't know... we could be in Happy's realm." the shapeshifter replied running a hand over the back of his head, sheepishly.

"We are in the part of your mind that the higher emotions inhabit. It should give us some advantage over the Beast. I'm going to ask you one last time, are you sure about this?"

Changeling nodded in response and looked down at the empath sitting down in the meadow. "What's going to happen?" He asked.

"Long answer or short?" Raven responded, tilting her head at the green shapeshifter.

"Uh, short... I guess." He answered running a hand sheepishly through the back of his hair.

"First, my demonic side will force your primal side to submit. Then, our higher consciousness together. I will have to shield you from the demon so that she doesn't destroy you and you retain your soul and free will until I need to take over"

"Right." Garfield responded weakly "What if the Beast wins against your Demon?"

"He won't. This is not about strength. This is about dominance. I can assure you, the Demon will not fight fair. I will also be linked to her as you will be linked to him. I would recommend using any restraint you have over him to make this as quick as possible."

Changeling threw his hands up in frustration. "Rae, if I had control this wouldnt be necessary! If I had control he couldn't use the Beast to take me"

"This isn't a fight." Raven reiterated. "I trust you and I trust him. The Beast has saved me before, he doesn't frighten me."

"Rae, I..." Garfield wanted to tell her just how stupid it was to trust the Beast, how dangerous that part of him was. The words wouldn't come. "I don't want you to get hurt." He finished, lamely, his head hung in defeat.

"I wont be." She smiled a lopsided grin that was all her own. It was almost time. "This will change things though. Gar, I'm sorry for the things you see during the merge. Please, try not to judge me too harshly."

"I ask the same Rae. Who says change will be a bad thing?" Changeling replied with a shadow of something Raven had trouble identifying in his jade eyes. She wanted to explore that shadow but this was not the time for curiosity. "Ready?"

"Sure, how do we start?" Changeling asked.

"Sit here with me. We need to call them from where they are caged."

Garfield sat down in the soft, springy grass of the meadow and placed his hands in hers. He watched the empath close her violet eyes and begin to mutter.

Changeling closed his eyes to wait. It wasn't long before he felt like his skin was crawling. He felt her essence, comforting, in his mind. He could feel the Beast trying to come free and squirmed. It was so hard not to instinctively clamp the lid down on him. He felt the tug as the Beast pulled free to begin the pursuit.

Garfield opened his eyes as Raven released his hands. He watched as she rose fluidly to her feet. Raven raised a hand to shield her eyes as she gazed into the distance of his mindscape. In a neutral tone she declared, "It's beginning"

"What now?" He asked following her gaze to the darkening horizon of his mind. He felt a breeze begin to stir the grass and the sharp smell of rain filled his senses. It was funny how his mind chose to interpret the upcoming conflict. He mused, waiting for a response from the empath.

"We wait" she replied in a placid tone. The sky was beginning to roil on either side of the meadow. The clouds were straining to come together in the center. Despite Raven's outward confidence, Changeling was not at all surprised when he felt her small pale hand brush against his. He turned his palm and their fingers laced together as they watched the scene before them unfold.

The gentle breeze began to whip around them into a gale at the center of the clouds. Lightning struck the ground and two figures stood in the the field. One form was diminutive and cloaked, an aura of danger surrounded the figure as it stood, cloak whipping in the breeze.

The other figure was shaggy and hulking, there was a sense of danger here too but the aura of wrongness was not present here. The danger was that of a hunter preparing for kill, one of growth wild and fierce and the air of deadliness belonging to an animal defending that which belonged to it. The Beast sniffed the air and growled threateningly. The figure stood, unmoved by the display of aggression.

The two heroes stood watching the scene unfold. Their linked hands tightened as the storm reached it's peak and overtook them. Their conscious selves were pulled into the storm and into the fray. Two figures, minds elsewhere, stood at the edge of the meadow. They remained linked as the Beast roared and the Demon's eyes began to glow.

It had begun.


End file.
